The present invention relates to apparatus for manipulating plain or filter tipped cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos, filter rod sections and analogous rod-shaped articles which constitute or form part of smokers' products. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for introducing rod-shaped articles of the above-outlined character into containers, especially into containers of the type known as chargers or trays.
Chargers or trays are utilized for temporary storage of rod-shaped articles (hereinafter called cigarettes) prior to introduction into the magazine of a packing machine, prior to admission into the hopper of a pneumatic sender which propels the cigarettes into the magazines of further processing machines, or to take up the surplus output of a producing or processing machine. As a rule, the cigarettes are discharged under the action of gravity by issuing from the outlet opening in the lower end portion of a magazine. It is also known to divide the outlet opening into several passages for discrete streams of cigarettes and to provide the partitions between neighboring passages with oscillatory parts in order to reduce the likelihood of bridging of cigarettes in the interior of the magazine.
Apparatus of the just outlined character operate satisfactorily during admission of cigarettes into trays. However, their operation is less satisfactory during that stage which involves replacement of a filled tray with a fresh tray. In order to insure adequate filling of each tray, and especially to insure that each of a long series of trays will receive the same or nearly identical quantity of articles, the evacuation of cigarettes from the magazine must be interrupted abruptly as soon as a tray is filled. Such abrupt interruption of evacuation often (and almost invariably) results in damage to or in defacing of cigarettes which happen to be in or immediately downstream of the passages during closing of the outlet opening of the magazine. In many instances, the closure is a gate which is shifted sideways to a position below or to a position away from the passages in the lower end of the magazine.
British Pat. No. 1,093,532 discloses a magazine wherein the passages for evacuation of articles can be plugged by closing members which move upwardly counter to the direction of movement of articles during evacuation. Such closing members are likely to damage the articles and/or to change the orientation of articles in the passages.
German OS No. 2,166,666 discloses a conveyor system for stepwise lowering a container which is open at one of its sides and receives articles which are advanced axially.
British Pat. No. 1,450,050 discloses a magazine which admits articles into a stationary container while the container is at a standstill. The container includes a platform which is raised below the discharge opening of the magazine and descends in the container while the magazine discharge articles.